Mass Effect 3, the next eagerly-awaited installment in Bioware’s space-opera-shooter-slash-RPG, finally goes on sale in the UK today, more than four months later than originally planned.

It’s been worth the wait though – and if you’ve yet to order a copy, we’ve scoured the interwebs for the best prices for you.

Mass Effect 3 has a lot to live up to: scores of awards and page upon page of praise for its predecessors, thanks to a fine balance between cover-base shooting action and RPG character development.

Commander Shepard has been insisting for two games now that the Reapers, intergalactic meatgrinders, are on the way, but it’s not until they’re mincing up earthlings that anybody else realises he might just have been on to something. Time to shoot more aliens. In the face.

Or not. As ever, Mass Effect 3 charms with its open gameplay mechanics. Want to play tactical with a sniper rifle? That’s cool. But you could also rip apart your enemies without ever firing a bullet if you choose to concentrate on biotics.

We’ve been playing Mass Effect 3 for the last week and, put simply, it’s as stunning as the first reviews claimed. This a near perfect game, and already a viable contender for 2012’s game of the year; not least because how you play it can be affected by how you played the previous games. Hope you kept your save game files.

So where can you buy it?

EA’s seen the high mark ups Activision has got away with for sought-after Call of Duty games, and has followed suit with an RRP of £49.99 for Mass Effect 3 on PS3 and Xbox 360.

Most online retailers are selling it for between £38 and £42; the cheapest we’ve found it on console is for £36.85 with free postage over at SimplyGames. Unfortunately, the supermarkets aren’t so fussed about stocking Mass Effect 3. Tesco and Sainsburys do not list it at all, while Asda is only selling it for £37.97 on consoles.

On PCs meanwhile, you’ve got a couple of options. You could pick up the DVD-ROM version of Mass Effect 3 for just under £28 – Amazon sells it for £27.91, and Zavvi for £27.95.

That’d certainly be cheaper than paying £34.99 for a download through Origin, EA’s much hated Steam rival. But you could also pick up a key for an Origin download via Play-SC.com for £25.81. We’d be inclined to go with the physical box: at least until Microsoft’s next Xbox arrives, at least you can resell it if you need.

Will you be buying Mass Effect 3 today? Let us know where you’ve found the best price in the comments.